An interactive agency serving our customers by helping them leverage technology to grow their business

Dec 30, 2009

A Guide to RVUSA’s SiteSource

SiteSource is an amazing tool that gives RV Dealers the ability to manage their own websites. Updates are easy, fast, and require no HTML or programming knowledge. In fact, if you have ever used a word processor (such as Microsoft Word), then many of the functions will be very familiar.

To see just how easy it is to maintain your own website, check out the RVUSA SiteSource Demo. You can ask one of our sales representatives for our guest login information by calling (866) 643-4625.

This is a guide for using the SiteSource Tool to edit your website. Feel free to bookmark this page and use it as a reference.

Can I create a page that doesn’t appear in the website menu?

Before you click the Add Page button, click the Click to Edit Advanced Options link. Additional fields will appear.

The Show in Menu checkbox is checked by default. Click the checkbox to unselect it.

Now you can click the Add Page button.

The page has been created, and you will see that it has not been added to your website menu.

You can now add text and images to your page. (For tips on editing a page, read the How do I edit a page? section)

Since this page will not be in your menu, be sure to write down the URL of this page(http://www…) so you don’t forget how to find it later.

Click the Save Changes button.

What areas can I edit?

Every SiteSource website has a main content area where you can add you own text, links, and images. Here a few of our EZ-Site Designs, showing where these content areas are:

The homepage of a SiteSource website often has additional information surrounding the content area, such as featured units, a RV search form, and a list of brands that you carry. However, the secondary pages are a blank slate, which gives you plenty of room to add whatever info you’d like to the page.

Contact Information – Your contact information is listed prominently in the header, footer, or below your website’s menu. This information will be set up by your website designer, and cannot be changed using SiteSource.

Contact Page – You are able to add text, photos, and links above the contact form, but you will not be able to edit the contact form.

Website Tools – If you have some of RVUSA’s website tools added to your website, you will need to edit those pages using RVUSA’s Member Management Console. These pages could include: Testimonials, Events, News, Tips, Employment, and Staff pages. You can still add text, images, or links at the top of these pages using SiteSource, but the main content is maintained through the MMC.

How do I edit a page?

Navigate to the page you wish to edit by clicking the link in your website’s menu.

Click the Edit This Page link in the SiteSource Toolbox.

You will now see a large text area where you can type, and a few rows of buttons along the top. To learn what each of these buttons are for, hover your mouse over the button. The name of the button will appear after a few seconds. Here are just a few of the buttons that will be most useful:

Strike Through – Click this button to create a line through your text.

Subscript – Click this button to type a subscript below the baseline, like this: sampletext.

Superscript – Click this button to type a superscript above the baseline, like this: 1st place.

Insert/Remove Numbered List – Click this button to create a numbered list. Hit the enter key to go to the next numbered line. When you have typed the last line in your list, hit the enter key again and click the button again to turn it off.

Insert/Remove Bulleted List – Click this button to create a bulleted list. Hit the enter key to go to the next line. When you have typed the last line in your list, hit the enter key again and click the button again to turn it off.

Left Justify – Click this button to align your text to the left side of the screen.

Center Justify – Click this button to align your text to the middle of the screen.

Right Justify – Click this button to align your text to the right side of the screen.

Block Justify – Click this button to align your text to the left side of the screen, but spaced out so all lines are the same length.

Insert/Edit Link – Highlight a portion of your text and click this button to add a link. (More at How do I add a link?)

Remove Link – Highlight a link and click this button to remove the link.

How do I add a link?

Navigate to the page you wish to edit by clicking the link in your website’s menu.

Click the Edit This Page link in the SiteSource Toolbox.

In the large text area, type the words that you wish to make into a link.

Highlight the words and click the Insert/Edit Link button.

A new window will pop up where you can enter your link information. In the URL field, type (or paste) in the URL that you want to link to. (http://www…)

If you are linking to an external website, you may want the link to open in a new tab/window so your visitors do not leave your website. To do this, click on the Target tab and select New Window (_blank) from the drop down menu.

How do I add an image?

Navigate to the page you wish to change by clicking the link in your website’s menu.

Click the Edit This Page link in the SiteSource Toolbox.

Click in the text area where you want to place your image.

Click the Insert/Edit Image button.

A new window will pop up where you can enter your image information.

Click the Browse Server button to select the image you want to display. Another window will open that shows what files you have already uploaded to the website.

If you want to use an image that you have uploaded in the past, skip to step 10. Otherwise, you will need to upload your new image first.

Click the Browse button and select your image, then click the Upload button in the bottom right corner. Your new image will appear in the list of file names.

Click the filename that you wish to use. The window will automatically close so you are back at the Image Properties window.

Now that you’ve selected your image, you can add additional information.

Alternative Text – A short description of the image that will display if the image doesn’t render.

Width and Height – Set the width and/or height in pixels.

Lock Ratio – By default, if you increase the width, the height will also adjust proportionally so the image doesn’t stretch. If you wish to adjust one dimension and not the other, click the blue lock button to turn it off.

Reset Size – To reset the size of the image back to its original dimensions, click the circular arrow button.

Border – Type a number in this box to set a border (we recommend a value between 1 and 4).

HSpace – Type a number in this box to add space to the left and right of your image (we recommend a value between 5 and 20).

VSpace – Type a number in this box to add space to the top and bottom of your image (we recommend a value between 5 and 20).

Align – Use this dropdown to set the alignment of your image. Aligning to the right or left will wrap text around your image.

Click the OK button to close the Image Properties window.

If you wish to edit the image later, just select the image by clicking on it and click the Insert/Edit Image button.

When you are finished making your changes, click the Save Changes button to save.

How do I get the text to wrap around my image?

In the Image Properties window, you will need to set the alignment of your image.

To have the image aligned to the left with your text wrapping around the right side, select Left from the drop down menu. To have the image aligned to the right with your text wrapping around the left side, select Right from the drop down menu.

In the preview area, you will be able to see a preview of how the text is wrapping around your image. If you have a large image and can’t see the text in the preview area, just re-size the window so it is larger by clicking and dragging the bottom-right corner.

If you want to add a little space around your image, just set the HSpace(horizontal space) and VSpace(vertical space) by adding a number to those boxes.

Click the OK button to close the Image Properties window. You will now see your image with the text wrapped around it.

How do I link to a PDF document?

Navigate to the page you wish to edit by clicking the link in your website’s menu.

Click the Edit This Page link in the SiteSource Toolbox.

In the large text area, type the words that you wish to make into a link.

Highlight the words and click the Insert/Edit Link button.

A new window will pop up where you can enter your link information. But first, we want to upload your PDF document to the website. Click the Upload tab.

Click the Browse button to select the PDF file you wish to use. Click the Send it to the Server button to upload the PDF file.

A window will pop up that says Your file has been successfully uploaded. Press the OK button.

You will now be sent back to the Link Info tab, and the URL to your PDF will be automatically entered for you.

Click the OK button to close the pop up window.

Click the Save Changes button to save.

Can I edit the meta information for each page?

When your website is first created, your designer will discuss keywords and key phrases with you and set up optimized page titles, keywords, and descriptions for all of your pages. Once the website is live, you can update this information whenever you wish, and enter meta information to new pages that you’ve created.

You can edit/enter your meta information in these new fields. There are also other advanced options that you can edit here.

Page Name – The name that will appear in your website menu.

Open Page In – Sets whether the link in the menu opens in the user’s current window, or in a new window.

Page Title – This is the HTML title tag (<title>) that will appear at the top of the browser, as a link in search engine listings, and as the title of the page when it is bookmarked.

Meta Keywords – The meta keywords for the page.

Meta Description – The meta description for the page. The meta description will display in search engines listings under your page title.

Click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page when you are finished.

Please note that when you make changes to your existing meta information, you previous settings will be overwritten. If you wish to keep a record of your previous titles, keywords, and descriptions, you should be sure to save these in a separate file for future reference before you save changes.